We’ve supported clients worldwide across sectors. For governments and NGOs, travel is a duty. In the private sector, it often blends business with leisure, Known recently as “bleisure”, where employees view the leisure side as a reward for their efforts.

Yet this freedom conceals a growing blind spot: human behavior. In the private sector, even when organizations have the resources to build robust travel risk frameworks, pre-trip briefings, behavioral guidance, and risk-mitigation protocols are too often treated as optional rather than essential. Government and NGO staff, meanwhile, may operate under tighter budgets but tend to rely on structured protocols that help curb these risks.

This contrast creates a clear paradox. Companies may succeed in safeguarding employees during official work hours, but the unstructured time beyond the workday, when employees explore, socialize, or unwind, often escapes oversight. It is precisely in these hours that individual choices can expose both staff and organizations to heightened risks, leaving gaps in duty of care and undermining otherwise strong protections.

The Human Factor: The Real Weak Link in Corporate Security

The moment travelers step away from the routines and familiar reference points of home, their instincts often shift. Distance brings a sense of anonymity, and in unfamiliar cultures the line between safe and risky can quickly blur. What feels harmless (or perfectly legal) in one country might be dangerous or even forbidden in another. Too often, employees only discover these differences in customs, laws, or health standards when they’re already in trouble.

Studies reveal that employees are prone to riskier behavior abroad, behavior they would never consider at home. World Travel Protection’s survey across multiple countries found that 79% of business travelers admitted to engaging in risky activities during work trips, think gambling, ignoring local safety advice, hopping into cars with strangers, habits they’d avoid domestically.

This tendency is strongest among younger professionals. The same research shows that travelers under 34 are nearly four times more likely than their over-55 counterparts to ignore health or safety precautions. In Australia, for instance, nearly 80% of under-34 travelers admitted to engaging in risky behaviors. The under-34 group reports twice the rate of participation in illicit activities like drug use or gambling compared to older colleagues. Many even claimed expenses for visits to strip clubs under “entertainment,” and a worrying trend emerged: dating-app encounters abroad led to instances of robbery and data loss.

Stress, Burnout, and Risk Behaviors

It’s important also to take into consideration that it’s not just thrill-seeking. Research from Kingston University in collaboration with International SOS shows that international business travel often leads to elevated stress and deterioration in mental wellbeing. Travelers report higher levels of stress (45%), emotional exhaustion (31%), and a significant dip in sleep and diet quality, with 76% reporting worse nutrition and 73% poor sleep. These factors can lower inhibitions and raise vulnerability to risky decisions.

Why It Matters for Employers

These behaviors pose more than personal danger, they also create legal, financial, and reputational liabilities with immediate consequences for businesses:

  • Enhanced exposure to medical emergencies, legal entanglements, and reputational fallout.
  • Operational challenges in delivering effective support during crises, complicated further if travelers don’t follow simple safety protocols.
  • Duty of care escalation, especially as regulators increasingly demand proactive employer responsibility.

Shaping Behavior

However, behavior is not fixed. With clear policies, practical tools, and a culture of accountability, companies can reduce risk at its source, the individual level.

  • Safety culture matters: A checklist of rules isn’t enough to keep people safe. What makes the difference is culture, when leadership sets the tone, expectations are clear, and safe decisions are reinforced through training and incentives. Research shows that a strong, safety-centric organizational culture substantially improves behavior and reduces risk.
  • Tailored awareness training: Security awareness can’t be reduced to a one-time, generic briefing. It needs to be practical and ongoing, built around real scenarios, reinforced with regular refreshers, and supported by a culture where employees feel safe to report issues without fear of blame.
  • Contextualized interventions: A recent empirical study highlights that individual and cultural factors, like age, industry, national context, and prior exposure, significantly influence risky behavior, suggesting that training and policies need to be customized rather than one-size-fits-all.
  • Integrated travel risk management: Forward-thinking companies are embedding duty-of-care through proactive education, dynamic policy frameworks, live alerts, pre-trip risk assessments (personalized by age or behaviors), and mobile platforms for on-the-ground support.

Leadership Takeaways

  1. Reframe the weakest link: Security is no longer solely about global threats, it starts with understanding and influencing human behavior at the micro level.
  2. Know your people: Younger and less experienced travelers differ in risk appetite. Profiling and tailoring is essential.
  3. Invest in culture and training: Awareness, engagement, and a blame-free safety culture strengthen safer choices.
  4. Drive retention and trust: Demonstrating concern for traveler wellbeing isn’t just good ethics, it's a good business strategy in retaining talent.